Hunt holds on to clean sheet

Bidvest Wits coach Gavin Hunt was delighted that his side finally managed to get their first clean sheet of the season against Orlando Pirates.

The Clever Boys also managed their first victory of the campaign as they edged the Buccaneers 1-0 at Bidvest Stadium on Saturday.

The result was Wits’ seventh consecutive win against Pirates, with their last defeat as far back as September 2014.

Hunt, though, admitted his side had a poor game but stressed the importance of the result and said their defensive discipline will now need to stretch right over the remaining 25 league games this season.

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"The win was important. It’s the worst we’ve played this season and we got a result, it just shows you about football – it will drive you crazy,” said Hunt.

“But the clean sheet was the most important thing. All I want now – we’ve got 25 games left – I said to them, ‘I want 25 0-0 [draws],' that’s all, and then we’ll be fine. We’ll survive relegation.”

Having fielded his ninth different line-up in as many games. The Absa Premiership Coach of the Season lamented that his defensive structure of last term has been shattered through injury, which is also resulting in the changes throughout the rest of the team.

“We’re chopping and changing every game and we can’t get any consistency. Our back five that played, that won us the league and the cup, and has been consistent for the last year is not here,” he added.

“We’ve got one player out of our [old] back five that’s available – our left back [Sifiso Hlanti], the rest are all guys that have come in.

“We obviously want the competition but our back five was our stable – Darren Keet, Nazeer Allie, Buhle Mkhwanazi, 'Tyson' Hlatshwayo – they were good for us.”

Hunt confirmed that Thulani Hlatshwayo missed Saturday’s win over Bucs due to injury, and was pulled out of the squad on the morning of the fixture.